IV. Edited Quotations That Change the Original Intent

The authors use over six hundred footnote references. It would be difficult for the reader to check these out since the references come from many sources. I did check out virtually every reference in The God Makers and found that many quotations as well as scriptures had been edited or taken out of context, and different meanings resulted. Here are a few examples:

The words in brackets were added in the book and were not implied or stated in any way in the talk. (A person has to be cleansed before participating in the ritual.)

5. “Mormon writer William E. Berrett admits that a secret society called the ‘Danites’ . . .was organized within the Mormon Church ‘for the purpose of plundering and murdering the enemies of the saints’ ” (224:35).

The same source also said “that Joseph Smith had nothing to do with [the Danites] and exposed the participants when he became aware of it, is equally well confirmed.”

6. “Leland Gentry, also a Mormon, adds that the ‘Danites were apparently taught to obey the commands of their superiors without question or hesitation’ ” (225:1-5).

The Gentry account also makes clear that not until the pre-trial hearing were Joseph Smith and his brethren made aware what members of this group had done and that the Danites tried to shift the responsibility for their crimes to Joseph Smith to save themselves.

7. Brigham Young said, the Christian God is the Mormon’s devil (245, last).

President Young was quoting a person who once pointed out that to some Christians, both God and the devil were “without body.” (It is not LDS doctrine that other Christians worship the devil.)

8. The book, trying to show a false prediction, quotes Heber C. Kimball as saying that he and other Mormons then living would go back to Missouri (228:1-10).

Ellipses are used to create one quotation that comes from two speeches, from two volumes, 325 pages apart. In one of the talks only a few lines away, Heber C. Kimball also said, “If we do not receive these things, it is because we do not live for them,” making the prediction conditional on the worthiness of the Saints.

9. Several strange demonic experiences are quoted out of context by the authors who add, “Here again we have an obviously evil manifestation” to show that Mormonism is satanic (108:30).

Reading the full account, one finds that Joseph Smith instructed Lyman Wight “to chase Satan out,” and in a second instance Joseph Smith “commanded Satan to leave.” These were examples of casting out evil spirits and not of engaging in satanic practices as the book alleges.

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